


Buzzfeed Unknitted

by Red Charade (traciller)



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Pining, some ogling, the one where Ryan knits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-07-21 07:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19998319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traciller/pseuds/Red%20Charade
Summary: Ryan secretly loves to knit, and Shane loves to wear all the things Ryan makes.





	1. Socks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [abovetheruins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/abovetheruins/gifts).



> Whatever happens, we can thank or blame theawfuledges over on Tumblr for this. :p

Ryan was expecting today to go just as normally as every other day. He would come into work, get some stuff done at the ol’ Buzzfeed office, maybe touch up a script for an upcoming episode they have yet to shoot, then ogle Shane discreetly when he comes into the office before suggest they get some VO work done for an episode that has already been shot. Nothing glamorous, nothing to write home about, just another day at the office.

And that’s exactly how it began. When Shane came in sometime after Ryan, he was wearing those usual tight chinos that Ryan loved to admire and pretty soon they were bantering before getting those VOs done. Therein lies the problem, though. Ryan had let his guard down, as he often did around Shane. Good old, goofy but predictable, Shane Madej. So predictable that he rarely really even deviates his wardrobe. The man has the same kind of chinos from the same store in seven different colors for God’s sake. He almost always wears a button-down shirt. The same boots.

So, you’ll have to forgive Ryan for not thinking to look down.

“Hey, Shane, your socks don’t match,” someone says, surprise and mild amusement coloring their tone. It’s Shane, after all, so maybe it’s on purpose. If he’s going to deviate his wardrobe, then his socks would be a good guess. The goofy part of his personality coming in.

When Ryan looks down, though, he knows right away why Shane’s socks don’t match. Ryan had gifted those socks to Shane the day he had confessed that he secretly loved to knit. The yarn he’d used to make the socks was self-striping and so the colors were a bit off because Ryan hadn’t wanted to do yarn surgery on them to make the colors work. He’d been lazy and had figured Shane probably wouldn’t wear them. Even when Shane had happily accepted the socks and promised to wear them, Ryan had thought it was some odd Midwestern politeness that was only now showing up even though he’d never been overly polite to Ryan before. Anyway, it never crossed his mind that Shane would wear them to work!

But, when Shane replied all he did was look down, admire the socks by turning his foot from side-to-side to show off his ankle, and therefore the coloring and design of the sock, with a soft, secret smile that made Ryan swallow somewhat nervously and was accompanied by some kind of swooping feeling in his stomach, and say, “Nope, they don’t. Pretty, though, yeah?”

No mention of Ryan. Not even a betraying glance in his direction, effectively keeping the promise he’d made to Ryan not to tell anyone about his knitting.

Ryan wasn’t sure what to do with that, but it felt like for the rest of the day his cheeks would heat up every time he looked at Shane. Shane, the man he had a massive crush on, was wearing the items he’d handmade just for him, thinking of him the entire time. Shane, who smiled Like That every time he looked down at the socks.

Thankfully, if anyone found it odd that Ryan hadn’t taken the opportunity to make fun of Shane’s mismatched socks they didn’t say anything.


	2. Hat & Gloves

Things mostly went back to normal after the fiasco that was the Sock Incident. Okay, so it wasn’t really a fiasco, but Ryan hadn’t liked being so blindsided. It really hadn’t occurred to him that Shane would actually ever wear the socks, let alone wear them to work. But, he had, and he’d kept Ryan’s secret, too. Most important, at least to Ryan’s soft little heart, Shane really did seem to like the socks. So, Ryan decided to make him some more things.

Shane lived in California, but was from the Midwest where it cold enough to snow in the winter time, and he often went back for holidays to spend with family in Illinois. Clearly, Shane had more than enough warm-weather clothes to pack when they did filming on location where it was cold, so Ryan was a bit surprised when Shane chose to wear the hat and gloves he’d made for him instead of any of those things. Not only that, but it made Ryan feel warm inside whenever Shane drew attention to the items. Calling the hat his “trusty beanie” and never putting the gloves down where they could be mislaid and forgotten. Even on camera if Shane needed to remove his gloves he put them in his pocket and took a moment to make sure they were secure and weren’t going to fall out.

“Hey, you’re pretty protective of those,” TJ mentions when Shane makes sure both the hat and gloves are safe when they all cram into a booth for food.

“I guess so. THey’re pretty neat, and a gift. I’d be pretty upset to lose ‘em.”

“At least they match better than your socks,” TJ continued with a laugh. He didn’t mean anything by it, but Ryan still bristled a little. He told himself to calm down, though, TJ didn’t know Ryan had made them. Still, knowing Shane might wear those to work, or just in public in general, had spurred Ryan to be more careful this time. He’d made absolutely sure nothing was mismatched this time. The gloves and hat were all properly matching, and the gloves looked like a proper mated pair.

Shane frowned a little at the dig at the socks and Ryan wondered if he could’ve noticed Ryan’s reaction, but he doubted it. No need to let his heart cloud his judgment and make him see things that weren’t there. Besides, he was pretty sure he’d done a good job hiding his reaction this time.

“Hey, those are my favorite socks. You’re just jealous you don’t have a pair.”

Ryan hoped his face wasn’t as hot as it felt. The hat and gloves were important enough to Shane that he’d be upset if they were lost and the socks were his favorites? Ryan didn’t care if it was basically Antarctica outside, his foolish, lovesick heart was melting.

“Wow, guys, riveting conversation but the food’s here. Maybe save the rest for after we eat,” Ryan said, hoping no one noticed what he was sure was a blush at this point, but his poor heart just couldn’t take anymore of this right now or he’d do something really dumb, like kiss Shane Madej’s stupid adorable face.

His blush was not helped to calm down in the slightest when he glanced at Shane only to get a wink for his trouble.


	3. Sweater

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No dialogue in this one, just Ryan freaking out.

When Ryan made Shane a sweater he didn’t expect him to wear it to his parents’ house. He had thought maybe Shane would wear it to one of their cold-climate filming locations, but not anywhere sentimentally important. So, he could be excused for his surprise when he saw Shane wearing it in an Instagram picture when he was supposed to be visiting family on vacation.

“New favorite sweater!” the caption read.

The fact that this just so happened to be on Valentine’s Day of all days made Ryan’s overly romantic and stupidly hopeful heart soar. If any noise came out of his mouth he would deny it until his dying day. Shane was announcing to the world, on purpose, that the sweater Ryan had taken measurements for, because he’d never knit a sweater for someone proportioned quite like Shane before and he wanted to get this right dammit, and picked out the colors for because Shane had just shrugged and said, “surprise me,” when Ryan had asked his opinion, and spent so long knitting just for him. And if he had put a lot of love into that sweater while knitting it, well he’d never have to tell. That sweater. That one. Shane was announcing to the world while he was wearing it at his parents’ house that it’s his new favorite. On Valentine’s Day.

Ryan looked at the comments and saw that already a ton of people were asking if it was a gift from a new girlfriend or something, assuming that it was a Valentine’s Day gift. Ryan refreshed for almost two hours but Shane never answered anyone. He just let the picture, with its caption and comments and implications, sit there.

Ryan knows, he knows okay? He can’t keep reading the things he wants to into these gestures just because he wants to. That way lies heartache and broken friendship and probably then the end of Unsolved. Shane was probably just being a really good, really indulgent friend. It probably never occurred to him that posting the way that he did, where he did, when he did, was going to twist Ryan up into knots. Because, he had no idea about Ryan’s megacrush on him. Shane wasn’t cruel and would never lead someone on when he wasn’t interested. Not on purpose.

But, what if Ryan was wrong? Not about Shane being cruel, but about him not being interested? What if he was dropping Ryan hints this whole time and Ryan was missing them because of his overthinking? All of his ridiculous angsting and pining might be over nothing because Shane is waiting for Ryan to ask him out!

Nah. Shane wasn’t that type of guy. If he wanted to go out with someone there’d be some pretty obvious flirting going on and at some point he’d just ask them out himself. He’d seen it. Well...actually, Sara had asked Shane out herself. But, still! His point still stands because there had been some super obvious flirting from Shane first. Could be seen from space obvious.

Ryan opened Instagram to go check one more time if Shane had answered anyone, yet.

He hadn’t.


	4. Scarf

Ryan had by now gotten used to Shane wearing the things he made for him out in public and to important places, but that didn’t mean his heart had stopped warming at the sight, at the knowledge that Shane had called many of them his favorite pieces of clothing. Ryan was pretty sure that if the ceiling of the Buzzfeed office fell in and killed him he could die a happy man knowing that SHane felt that way about things he’d put so much time and love into just for him.

Well, maybe he wouldn’t die a completely happy man. If he died that way there was some chance Shane would die, too, sitting right beside him and that would mean he’d die shocked and worried about Shane.

There was some chance that he was overthinking this, but he stopped thinking about it entirely when Shane came in wearing the scarf Ryan had made for him and a light jacket. Ryan was cold, because it was cold today, but it was only really California cold. He knew Shane was probably quite comfortable, so that meant Shane had gone out of his way to find an excuse to wear Ryan’s latest handknit item.

Ryan swore he could feel his heart flutter in his chest at that realization. He only just stopped himself from sighing and putting a hand to his chest like some Southern lady in an old movie.

“Get a grip, Bergara,” he mumbled to himself under his breath. The last thing he needed was for Shane to see him simpering and realize how Ryan truly felt about him. Ryan would rathe rdie than lose Shane’s friendship or have it change to some kind of weird, awkward thing. He wasn’t ready to risk that.

“Hey, Ry, what’s up?” Shane asked, setting a to-go cup from their favorite cafe in front of him before unwinding the scarf and taking off the jacket. He hung the jacket on his chair but stowed the scarf somewhere safe, then sat down to his own cup.

“Just some editing. We should probably do VOs today, though,” Ryan answered, hoping there was nothing about what he’d been thinking detectible in his voice.

“Yeah? You gonna edit out tripping into my arms?” Shane asked, and was Ryan seeing things or was Shane giving him a leer? Playful, but still...somehow not.

“No, because I didn’t trip. Something pushed me,” Ryan answered and tried not to swallow nervously thinking back on being in Shane’s arms like that. He failed.

“Come on, Ryan, there’s no shame in tripping once in awhile. It happens to everyone, and it’s the simplest explanation for what happened.”

“I’m not having this discussion again,” Ryan said, mostly because he knew he couldn’t talk about tripping directly into Shane’s arms, face-planting in Shane’s chest, arms around each other’s waists as Ryan reached out to steady himself and Shane reached out to catch him and steady them both, with Shane right now and not do something stupid like spill his entire guts about how in love he is with him.

The day went by like most days, except Ryan was more aware of Shane’s presence, even more than usual. It felt like there was more casual touching than normal or maybe Shane was just positioning himself closer than he usually did. But, maybe Shane wasn’t aware of it, or Ryan was giving in to wishful thinking. He didn’t think so, though, when Shane put his hand on Ryan’s lower back, resting it there flat but not guiding, on their way to the break room.

Ryan tried to tell himself not to read into it, get his hopes up, ruin what they already had, and grabbed himself an apple while Shane found a banana, when someone else came in and made a beeline for Shane. They had something in their hands that made Ryan’s mouth go a little bit dry, despite the bite of juicy apple he was chewing.

“Hey, Shane, I just. This might be a little weird but I like to knit and I made this for you,” she said and handed over the scarf in her hands.

Ryan wasn’t sure who she was, she was new enough that he hadn’t learned her name yet and he didn’t see her too often since they hadn’t yet worked directly together but she’d apparently noticed Shane. Ryan felt like his stomach was plummeting to his shoes when he had only just begun to wonder if Shane would take the scarf. Maybe he’d declare it a new favorite, too, wear it instead of Ryan’s to work on the next cool day. Maybe this whole time Ryan had been right to keep his mouth shut, lucky he’d kept that voice of reason when his heart felt like overflowing, because it really was just Shane being a good friend and polite MIdwestern boy.

Shane reached out for the scarf and Ryan finally swallowed his bite of overchewed apple. It went down like a handful of nails.

“Thanks, that’s really nice of you. I already have one, but I appreciate it!” Shane said with friendly enthusiasm and a smile.

Ryan understood the look of happiness mixed with some disappointment she had on her face. She recognized that Shane was only being friendly. But, Ryan noticed something else, too.

Shane had tons of scarves, but when Ryan made him one he’d never mentioned that to him, nor when he’d made him other items that he had a ton of. Not even just to tease him. And when Shane set aside her scarf so he could eat his banana after she’d walked away, he was careful with it but not reverent like he was with Ryan’s handknit items. And Ryan realized it as that now. Not just careful; reverent. And when he recognized that and the difference between the way he accepted gifts like this from Ryan versus the way he accepted them from others, it was easy for Ryan to be sure he hadn’t been reading anything in that wasn’t there. From there, it was easy to see the way Shane had been acting as perhaps very much purposeful flirting rather than teasing or easy companionship.

But, he could still be wrong. Maybe, Shane was just a different way with him because they were best friends. There was only one way to be sure and Ryan was tired of all the guessing and anxiety he’d been putting himself through lately. If their friendship was so great, then it could survive this at least once even if the answer was no.

He swallowed once for courage and then looked over at Shane. “Hey, you wanna go get coffee after work? Just us?”

“Like usual?” Shane asked, looking over at him.

“No.”

Shane looked at him for a moment, long enough to make Ryan begin to worry before he grinned and answered, “Thank God, I thought you were never gonna ask.”

“Is that a yes?” Ryan asked with a relieved smile.

Shane’s grin softened into a gentle smile. “I’d love to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there you go! That's the end! I'm sorry this one was so late getting out, but it's also longer than the other three by a bit so I hope that makes up for it. I hope everybody enjoyed this! It was sure fun to write. :)

**Author's Note:**

> It's been quite awhile since I wrote a proper fic, so I apologize if I'm rusty. I'll try to get this out at least once a week until it's finished.
> 
> I also apologize for that title. In my defense, titles are the hardest part of writing for me. That, and motivation.


End file.
